I suggest to you in that 24th chapter
of Exodus, again when he left the millions
in Egypt and he took the seventy plus
four, and then he left the seventy and
there were four, and then he left the
seventy, and then he has to leave even
his chosen friend, and he goes there on
a mountaintop.
Have you noticed how often God deals with
men on mountaintops?
He took Moses on the mountaintop more than
once.
He took Elijah on Mount Carmel.
He gave us a sermon on the mount.
The world lives in the valley, the believers
live on the mount.
And Moses is wrapped in a cloud.
And after he'd struggled and come that long
journey, God kept him waiting for, for six
days because he said he spoke to him
on the seventh day.
While we would expect that Gabriel would be
there with a brass band and, and a
red carpet saying, oh you're a hero.
You, you left all the people in Israel
and you left your wealth and you left
security and you left this and, and, and,
and God and all the angels were excited
to see you.
And God kept him, wait, wait upon the
Lord and renew your strength.
Be still and know that I'm God, we're
impatient.
And I think wrapped up there in the
cloud, God gave him a revelation of something
that was going to happen more than a
thousand years, because from Moses to Malachi there's
at least a thousand years.
And Moses sees through the dust and clouds
of time, he sees the rise and fall
of empires, Babylonian empires and other empires.
And he doesn't let them disturb him or
get him restless or unmoved or nervous.
He says, there, that, there's the plan of
God.
I think the same thing when God allowed
his servant Paul to be caught up into
the heavens and he said, I, I can't
even tell you what I've seen.
Oh boy, I'd like, I'd like to have
been in on that deal, wouldn't you?
He seeth afar off.
Moses could see a millennium ahead.
And Paul, I don't know how far ahead
he saw, but this I do know, he
saw far off.
And I'm supposed to have eyes like this.
My eyes are not supposed to dwell on
the things of earth, but as we think
so often, the things of earth have grown
strangely dim in the light of his glory
and grace.
We're supposed, well, Bilheimer has a book out
right now, it's called Destined for the Throne.
Well, that's all right, it's a good book,
a good title.
But I think if you narrow it down,
we're not only destined for it, we're supposed
to be sitting on it, aren't we?
Doesn't Ephesians say, he has lifted us up
together and made us sit together and we're
dwelling together with him in high places?
What in the world are we worried about
a homie this morning?
Aetolik, a homie, a homie, a hominia, whatever
you're going to call him.
They call him all kinds of names, but
isn't it amazing this morning that the eyes
of the world are not on Jesus Christ?
They're on a man there, sitting on his
little pile there.
They're not on the church, rapturously manifesting power
over sin and the enemies of God.
We're all shrinking and worried about a little
madman that's sitting there.
I think the whole reason, there's only one
reasonable answer to why he's done this devilish
thing is this, that he made so many
promises and then after a while his power
went down.
He wasn't popular, he was sinking and he
had to find a way of taking attention
from himself to something else.
So he engineered this diabolical thing of trapping
these guys away in that building.
And now he wants all the Islamic forces
to stand back behind him.
And you know if you keep looking at
that kind of stuff and feed on that
stuff forever you'll get depressed in your spirit
and the stock market's going down and everything
else.
We're not of the world, the eagle is
not of the earth, earthy, it's a heavenly
creature.
It doesn't feed on garbage, it doesn't bother
with other people.
It's a defiant bird, it's a dangerous bird,
it's a delightful bird, why?
Because it soars in areas that no other
bird is able to soar in.
Oh yes, and another thing about it, it
has a wonderful eye, I said.
You know when the storm clouds gather and
darkness comes, all the birds fly off and
hide in holes and get back to their
nests and the old owl gets in that
rotten old tree and the other birds scattered
off, they have an instinct and they flee
for safety.
Do you know what the eagle does?
He says, well hallelujah, I've been waiting for
this.
Look at that storm coming up, boy am
I going to have a time.
And he flies right into the eye of
the storm, there's no other bird that does
that, they always flee for safety.
And when he gets there, do you know
what he does?
He rides on the crest of the storm.
He goes higher and higher and the rougher
he gets, the more he enjoys it.
He says, why do you think I'm the
strongest bird in the sky?
Why do you think I live in heavenly
places and get nervous because there's a dark
cloud?
Hmm.
A poet says, the clouds may roar without
me, my heart may low be laid, but
God is round about me and shall I
be afraid?
Adding to his Isaac once again that says,
let mountains from their seats be hurled down
to the deeps and buried there.
Convulsions shake the solid earth, our faith shall
never yield to fear.
All the other birds look out, peep and
say, oh look at that eagle up there,
oh it must be wonderful to be like
that, what courage he's got, he's got no
nerves, he isn't afraid, oh see that lightning
flashing, oh listen to the thunders rolling, oh
the earth's breaking up.
And the eagle says, well hallelujah, that won't
worry me, I don't have my feet on
the earth anyhow.
I can ride up in the majesty, I'm
not made to be a sparrow jumping from
roof to roof.
I'm not an old owl in a barn,
I'm not a beast, I'm not a bird
down in a farmyard, I live in the
heavenly places and Paul says that's where we're
supposed to live, in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus.
He has lifted us up together and made
us sit together.
And what does Ephesians 2 say?
It says he has all things underneath him.
And brother you ought to be in the
place where you've got everything underneath you, you
may not explain it.
You can't explain God, you can experience God,
but you can't explain him.
Finally there's a lovely little word here I
like so much in the 4th chapter of
Revelation.
Revelation 1 and verse, pardon me, Revelation 4
verse 1 says, You see he was looking,
where was he looking?
On the earth?
No.
Was he looking at the cruel ruler Domitian
who was destroying the Christians and even burning
their eyes out?
No, sorry, he's not looking round.
Where is he looking?
Well where was he?
If you'd gone to Ephesus that day and
said, well I've come a long way to
hear your preacher, I believe he's a great
expositor.
And of course he was one that was
with Jesus.
And of course the Gospel of John is
a masterpiece.
It's the most amazing piece of literature ever
written.
And then of course he gave us 1st
epistle, 2nd epistle and 3rd epistle.
And I want to hear your preacher.
He said, well sorry, he's not at home.
Oh, doing evangelistic crusade?
No.
You see that little peak sticking up in
the ocean there?
Yes.
Well that's the Isle of Patmos.
Oh, is he on vacation?
No, he's in prison.
He's where?
He's in prison.
The Isle of Patmos was the Alcatraz of
the day.
They put the scum of the earth there.
The thieves and the liars and the incorrigible
people.
People that the law couldn't tame.
And here is a saint of the Most
High God in that garbage?
Here is a pure man in the midst
of all that corruption?
And you get somebody to row you over
in a boat and when you get there
you see this man meditating and you go
up and pat him on the back and
say, well brother John, nice to see you.
I didn't expect to see you in the
Isle of Patmos.
And he says, I'm not in the Isle
of Patmos.
He says, where are you?
He says, I'm in the Spirit.
Well where are you this morning, in the
Isle of Patmos or in the Spirit?
Huh?
Am I a prisoner of circumstances?
No sir, I may not understand them all.
Would you like some revelations of the Most
High God?
Well maybe he'll have to get you away
and break the nest up and get you
away from everything and everybody on which you
lean.
And then when he gets you there he'll
have a chance to talk and he'll have
a chance to reveal himself.
For that's where he took John, on a
stinking, lousy Isle of Patmos with all the
corruption of the world in it.
And then he says in chapter 4 of
verse 1 that after this I looked up
and behold a door was opened in heaven.
Hallelujah.
Wouldn't that be worth going to the Isle
of Patmos for?
If I could push that door open half
an inch this morning you know what?
I doubt you'd ever get depressed again.
I doubt you'd ever get under the weather.
If I could just pull the door of
heaven open and say look in there, you
see the glory?
What does he see?
Immediately I was in the Spirit and behold
a throne was set on it.
Hallelujah forever.
Says the hymn writer, so be it Lord,
thy throne shall never like earth's proud empires
pass away.
Thy kingdom stands and grows forever till all
thy creatures own thy sway.
It's not long since some of us remember
a man with his fist up like this
and Charlie Chaplin's moustache on his lip and
one stripe on his arm and he defied
all the 51 nations that signed on the
Peace Pact in the League of Nations and
he says I will build the Third Reich
and it will last a thousand years.
Hitler's Third Reich didn't last a thousand weeks.
There were other men that used to ride
down the Appian Way with their slaves chained
to the wheels of their chariot.
Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar and Caligula and
they thought they had the world beneath their
feet and their worlds perished.
But thy throne, O God, is forever and
ever a scepter of righteousness, is a scepter
of thy kingdom.
And John is seeing when all of life
is over and all the empires have gone
and there's no more eggs on and no
more gas problems and there's no more world
as we know it now.
Every human system has crashed.
And John says, I'm looking, listen.
As the man said, I'm not too worried,
I've read the last chapter.
Well, you better keep in the last chapter
these days when the world's falling apart.
Read the 17th of Revelation and the 18th
where commercial Babylon goes down and religious Babylon
goes down.
And when those men are screaming and howling
on their feet, on their knees, do you
know what it says?
That when the men who have lost their
billions and trillions of money and they've lost
their kingdoms, when they're howling and wailing, do
you know what the redeemed are doing across
the road?
They're shouting, Hallelujah!
Because He is going to reign forever and
ever as King of kings and Lord of
lords.
Immediately I was in the Spirit and behold,
a throne was set in heaven.
And one sat on the throne and he
that sat on it would look like Jasper
and a sardine stone and there was a
rainbow.
And then you go right down, there's a
rainbow and there's a four and twenty elders.
And then at the last it says, the
four and twenty elders fell down.
Hey, are you going to have a crown?
How many crowns are we going to have?
Well, there are five in the New Testament.
I don't think many of us will get
all the five.
I'm sure I won't.
I know you wouldn't know.
One is a martyr's crown.
Anybody like to vote for that today?
Do you want to make a good lunch
for the lions?
Would you like to be crucified upside down
like Peter?
Oh brother, eternity is going to be something,
isn't it?
Hmm.
Revelation talks about Antipas, my faithful martyr.
Nobody knows a thing about him.
But he's listed with the martyrs.
One day we're going to see him.
And so we'll have one crown, two, three,
four, five.
And you know what we're going to do?
We're going to strut around heaven and say,
Oh, aha, I remember seeing you at Agape.
Hmm, you want to make three crowns, eh?
Boy, boy, thought you'd have done better than
that.
Notice I've got four.
See this man coming, he's got five.
That man's got three.
Hmm.
He didn't make it too far.
Is that what we're going to do?
Are we going to be looking and say,
Hey, is that a diamond?
I can't see so well, the light.
Oh, what a diamond, as big as a
bucket on top of your head.
Is that a ruby in your crown I
see over there, red?
Yeah.
Are we going to Agape and oh, and
ooh, and ah?
Do you know what we're going to do?
What did we sing this morning?
Crown Him.
I like that hymn.
I always feel a divine joy crowning with
many crowns.
Crown Him the Lord of Spears, the potent.
And when I throw the door of heaven
open, there He is, those wounds yet visible
above.
I don't read Jesus will have any diamonds.
He's going to have some rubies, where the
nails went through His hands and through His
feet, and where the thorns pressed on His
brow.
And when we see Him there in His
glory and His majesty, it doesn't matter how
many crowns you have.
Verse 10 of chapter 4 says, The four
and twenty elders fall down before Him that
sat on the throne, and they worship Him
that liveth forever and ever, and they cast
their crowns before the throne.
Won't that be wonderful?
Oh, this is for the redeemed.
There's going to be another little time before
this I can't wait for.
And that is when everybody that ever lived
is going to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is
God to the glory of the Father.
Boy, won't I watch Hitler kneel down.
And the Pope.
And I believe it will be like the
creation of the beginning when it says, The
trees of the field clap their hands.
Boy, that'll be pretty noisy.
If you're nervous, you better ask for a
day off before that.
Because you'll get millions of people clapping their
hands and everybody with a triumphant voice singing,
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.
Why, if we'd enough glorified bodies, I'd burst
at the seams.
I nearly burst sometimes when we sing some
of the hymns of Zion.
But man, up there.
When we see the final trophies brought to
the feet of Jesus.
When we see everything, everything adoring Him.
Look, forgive me, about two more minutes here.
This next chapter.
Oh, pardon me, let's finish chapter four.
Thou art worthy, O Lord.
This is what they're going to sing.
You better rehearse it.
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory
and power and honor and power.
For Thou hast created all things and for
Thy pleasure they are and were created.
Listen, let's be very careful.
We give Him some pleasure every day out
of our lives.
Not wait till the end of the journey
for Him to get it.
We need to check up every day and
say, Lord, have I given you any pleasure
today?
Not have I given out so many tracts.
Not have I preached to some...
Have I brought personal pleasure to the heart
of God by my obedience, by my submission,
by my sacrifice, by the fact that I
won't let the world around as in Romans
12, 1 and 2, be not conformed to
this world or as Phillips translates it, don't
let the world press you into its mold.
Say, I'm not of the earth, earthy.
I'm made to live in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus.
I'm going to mount up with the wings
like the eagle, the wings of faith and
hope and trust and joy.
The next chapter says that I saw in
the right hand of Him that sat on
the throne a book written within and on
the backside sealed with seven seals.
I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a
loud voice who is worthy to open the
book and to lose the seals thereof.
Listen to this.
This is the most awesome thing, I think,
in eternity.
No man in heaven or earth or under
the earth was able to open the book
and look thereof.
Do you realize what that says?
No man in heaven.
Hey, Joshua, will you open the book?
No.
Isaiah, open the book.
No, I can't.
Jeremiah, open the book.
No.
Well, John Baptist, open it.
No, Paul, open it.
No man, no man in the heaven above
or the earth beneath or the seas beneath
is worthy to open the book.
And he says, I wept much.
And that word wept only occurs once in
the Old Testament apart from this.
And that's when Jesus wept over Jerusalem.
This is not somebody weeping because he's not
the skin off his finger or broken his
finger.
It's somebody weeping with a broken heart because
you see the book there, the book there
is the title deeds of the universe.
Who can take the title deeds of the
universe?
Nobody.
And he says, I wept much.
It's the weeping with groaning and sorrow and
anguish.
I wept much that no one was able.
And then he says, weep not.
The lion of the tribe of Judah.
Isn't it beautiful that here we have the
mystery of the lamb and the mastery of
the lion?
And to climax it, it says, he said,
weep not.
And the lamb came and took the book
out of him that sat on the throne.
And when he took the book out, verse
7, out of the right hand of him
that sat on the throne, and verse 8,
when he had taken the book, the four
beasts and four and twenty elders fell down
before the lamb, having every one of them
harps and golden vials full of orders which
were the prayers of the saints.
And they sung a new song, saying, Thou
worthy to take the book, for Thou hast
redeemed us unto God by Thy blood out
of every kindred and tongue and people.
And then verse 12, saying with a loud
voice, Worthy is the lamb that was slain
to receive power and riches and wisdom and
strength and glory and honor and blessing.
Now every creature which is in heaven and
on the earth and under the earth and
under the sea.
Hey, that's a crowd, isn't it?
You know, when you say, hey, get out
of it, you dirty little mosquito trying to
bite my ear.
Do you know that little mosquito is going
to sing Hallelujah one day?
That's what it says.
I didn't make it up.
You talk about fairy stories.
This isn't fantasy.
This is reality.
This is history written beforehand.
God made everything not to be cursed but
to be a blessing and to bring honor
and glory and majesty to His name and
everything that hath breath.
Boy, I can't wait for that.
You hear something booming over there, glory, glory,
glory.
You know, it'll be about 10 million elephants.
They can't sing in a higher key, but
they're going to sing glory, glory, glory.
Oh, there's Brother Barry at the back.
Barry, are you going to tune your harp
up for that day?
What a day that's going to be.
There's going to be no guitars in heaven.
A guitar is a backslidden harp.
In heaven it says they're going to have
harps and vials.
Won't that be wonderful?
Hallelujah.
Don't you feel it's great?
Then in a nobler, sweeter song I'll sing
thy power to save when this poor, lisping,
stammering tongue shouts, Look at all the martyrs
coming.
Look at all the heroes of faith.
Look at all the missionaries.
Look at all the secret people that have
prayed and fasted and wept.
And their voices are going to be raised
in a doxology the world has never heard.
It'll rock the universe.
And everything that hath breath, every mosquito, every
fish under the water and every bird in
the air, even the eagle will be changed
for it can't sing, but it's going to
sing that day.
Because it says that everything that hath breath
will praise the Lord.
You know what?
There's a thing, I don't like too many
of the modern songs, I'll admit that, but
there's one that I do like.
It will be worth it all when we
see Jesus.
Five minutes inside of heaven we'll all wish
we'd been more spiritual.
We'll all wish we'd sacrificed more.
We'd all wish we'd lived so much in
the heavenlies instead of on the earth with
all its garbage and uncleanness and its gossip
and its sensuality.
We see so much of it and feed
ourselves on TV on it.
Oh, come on.
The eagle is the royal bird of heaven.
Let's live like royalty.
Because that's what Peter says, we're a royal
priesthood and we're a holy nation.
The last thing, there's no bird or creature
in the world can intimidate the eagle.
He's the master.
And God intended you should have the world
and the flesh and the devil under your
feet and say, listen, I'm the Lord of
this situation.
Not in my courage or willpower but by
His divine strength.
And very soon it's all going to be
over.
We're going to see the saints of all
the ages.
A multitude which no man, everything's numbered in
the book of the Revelation except the multitude
which no man can number.
And they're coming out of every kindred and
nation and people and tongue.
I think we ought to get up in
the morning and look in the mirror and
say to yourself, I look at the mirror
and say, well Len, it's a great day
for you.
Remember this, you're a royal priesthood and a
holy nation.
Remember this, you've got for you, against you
the world, the flesh and the devil and
human weakness but this is what you've got
for you, the Father, the Son, the Holy
Ghost, oh, a third of the heavenly host
that fell and here you have for you
the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, two
thirds of the heavenly host and all the
promises of God.
Hallelujah.